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The Amazing Junk Jam

Are you ready to jam? Environmental sustainability and social responsibility take center stage in The Junk Jam Band’s high-energy educational program featuring found objects and homemade instruments. Everyone gets involved, as students create and layer sounds, using looping technology to create songs. Learning that junk can be used in so many ways has never been […]

Arabiqa with Karim Nagi

Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian and performs on multiple percussion and string instruments from around the Arab world. He describes the history of each instrument, shares how they are made, and writes out the names in Arabic script. In the program, Karim involves the virtual audience with rhythmic clapping, word pronunciation, line dancing, and […]

The Boy Who Would Be Captain Hook

David Harrell always wanted to be a part of playground games, but was only included when the other kids recognized that his prosthetic hook made him perfect for the part of Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Through perseverance, he showed he could be more than just the boy with one hand. David demonstrates that by […]

Kwanzaa Tales

In her interactive performance, TAHIRA, shares the seven principles (Nguzo Saba) of Kwanzaa. She does this through storytelling and music. Kwanzaa is an African American and pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. The central cultural values of Kwanzaa are: Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith. These values […]

Beats, Rhymes, and Life

This energetic and engaging exploration of percussion and poetry introduces students to how rhythms and spoken word can awaken their inner artists. Students connect to both verbal and non-verbal ways to express themselves while learning to develop their own unique voices—one word, one beat at a time. Topics covered by Poetry Meets Percussion include the following: […]

Using Art Explorations to Reach All Students

In this professional learning program with visual artist Molly Gaston Johnson, teachers will learn how to use basic elements and principles of design as a means of communicating ideas. Through designing their own artworks in a series of exercises that build from simple and quick, to more intentionally social-emotionally driven, and then curriculum-driven, participants will […]

Creating Puppets

Students learn the ancient art of puppet-making and performance as they create their own puppets to perform original or traditional stories. Zach Green guides students in crafting shadow, rod or hand puppets. Creating Puppets is an ideal workshop to integrate visual arts with theatrical performance. Schools can choose to work with the artist for a single day to […]

Mime and Creative Play

Students are introduced to the art of physical storytelling by Broadway actor and professional mime, Bill Bowers. Through performance, demonstration, and lots of hands-on participation, students experience the depth of expression found in this silent art form through an exploration of movement and non-verbal communication. This program includes a brief history of mime, warm-up exercises, […]